The Courtesan's Weapon
by Phantom Gypsy
Summary: A quick little snippet of Ezio...being Ezio.


_Tap.  
_

_Tap tap. _

The sound barely reached her unconscious mind. Caterina rolled onto her back, the rustling bed sheets twisting around her like a snake coiling its prey. A moment passed in silence. Then another, and she slipped back into a world of quiet, unthinking darkness.

_…Tap. _

"Caterina!"

Angry and startled, she sat straight up, looking towards the dark window and the even darker figure hanging outside of it. An irritated sigh escaped her and she dazedly ran the heel of her palm across her face.

"Can I come in?"

The room was too dark to see anything, yet now that her senses had gathered somewhat, she recognized the voice.

Oh yes. She knew it all too well.

With an annoyed grunt, she clambered out of bed, wearing nothing else than her underwear: a cotton corset and a loose pair of white breeches that sat low on her hips. Her legs stiff and her arms clenched in front of her chest to keep warm, Caterina waddled to the window and glared through the filthy glass.

"A pox on you, Ezio! I don't think I want to know what you need at this ungodly hour!"

The hooded man, carefully perched on the outside of the window frame, seemed taken aback for a brief moment.

"I don't think I've ever heard you so hostile before," he said slyly. "You're usually so keen to embrace my nightly visits." 

"Ugh!" Caterina wheeled around, furious at his lack of consideration for people that slept, rather than scaled buildings, in these pre-dawn hours. 

"Caterina, wait! I need a place to stay tonight. Just for tonight." 

A shrewd grin bent her lips. He sounded desperate enough, which usually meant his blades were the colour red tonight. "Of course you do." 

She shoved open the window-letting in a fresh cold breeze and the assassin-and hastily retreated to her bed in order to escape from the touch of both.

"But you will sleep on the floor like the dog that you are," she told him as she tucked herself beneath the bed linens. Even though Caterina couldn't see his face through the darkness of the room, she could feel Ezio watching her intently. No doubt he had expected her to invite him into bed beside her, as per usual. Through the shadows then came the sound that made her blood pound hard through her veins; the sound of heavy boots and clinking blades as he approached her bedside. 

She saw his white hood appear first and the mischievous grin that broke across her face was inevitable. He was lethal, charming, and powerful. And he knew it, what's more. Even as he leaned over her, the pitch-black room kept his face concealed in the recesses of his hood, until his nose nearly touched the tip of hers. Ezio's dark eyes glittered when they finally connected with Caterina's, and an amused smirk bent the scar on his lips.

"Dog? Fine then," he huffed. "See if I accommodate you the next time you seek out my company."

"Ezio…" 

With her face buried in the cave of his hood, she became painfully aware of how he was grazing his skin against hers, nuzzling the crooks of her neck with his bristly chin.

"Ezio, I said-" 

"I know what you said," he whispered into her ear. "I'm trying to persuade you otherwise."

Caterina giggled. Their banter was commonplace enough, but she also knew him to be an opportunistic friend that-if given the chance-would manipulate her to succumb to him.

His feathery kisses continued on a trail down her neck and onto her chest, even as she laughed and writhed in protest.

"Ezio! Enough!" 

While his grinning lips played in the hollows of her neck, his hands grasped at the blankets and slowly dragged them down, exposing her corseted torso. He ignored her half-hearted rejections for a while longer, until he tired of her fidgety response.

As he pulled himself away, Caterina couldn't help the blood that had rushed to her cheeks. It was always the same intoxicating effect with Ezio, even if she wasn't in the mood for him.

Smiling, she yanked out the second pillow she had been sleeping on and tossed it on the floor, along with an extra blanket that had pooled at the edge of the bed.

"There," she said. The assassin cocked an eyebrow. "You've persuaded me to at least give you some bedding."

Ezio chuckled and shook his head, but to Caterina's surprise, he calmly lay down on the hardwood floor and threw the quilt over his shoulders. 

Caterina stifled another giggle. "Sleep well, Ezio."

A heavy sigh was the only sound in return.

The sun crested the horizon only a few hours later, casting a soft pink light through the cobblestone alleyways and upon the brick buildings. Church bells tolled in the distance and the last stars in the sky conceded to the newborn dawn.

Ezio winced as his neck popped loudly, seeming to echo off the walls of the small room. His body was the one protesting this morning, but it was a small price to pay for a safe place to rest. Even if the company had been less than charitable.

Mindful of Caterina, who was still sleeping soundly, he quietly moved to the window and opened it, so as to get a clear view of the world outside. The city was still quiet yet. Only withdrawing shadows and cats hunting for pigeons filled the streets at this hour.

Ezio glanced back at Caterina. She was the most beautiful friend he had…and perhaps the most maddening. Still, as he pondered last night's encounter, that scar-bending smirk emerged yet again.

As silently as he could manage, he crept over to her bedside and watched her breathe for a moment. Peacefully sleeping, she didn't at all look like a rouge-lipped, scantily clad courtesan that patrolled the streets, looking to earn a coin in nearly any way. Yet her waves of red hair trailed down onto her chest, drawing his wandering eye to the portion of her breasts that didn't quite fit into the corset.

Such was the courtesan's weapon.

Smiling, Ezio pushed back his hood and lowered his face to her bosom, tenderly brushing his lips against the left one, and then the right. Caterina stirred and opened her eyes to find his dark, tantalizing ones staring back at her.

"Thank you," he whispered, "for your hospitality last night."

He pressed one last kiss hard onto her neck, then turned and left, jumping out the same window he had climbed through last night.

Caterina ran a hand through her hair and sighed.

"Damn that man."


End file.
